LATEST CLINICAL ARTICLE

People with learning disabilities still face inequalities in access to health services. This article, which comes with a handout for a journal club discussion, sums up what nurses can do to reduce these inequalities

CLINICAL FOCUS

People with learning disabilities still face inequalities in access to health services. This article, which comes with a handout for a journal club discussion, sums up what nurses can do to reduce these inequalities

Nurses to get 'passports' to bolster employment rights

Nurses transferring between different NHS services, and to the independent and voluntary sectors will be given ‘staff passports’ setting out their employment rights.

The passport, produced by the Social Partnership Forum, has been designed to reduce uncertainty over issues such as pay, pensions, and terms and conditions.

It is the result of years of bargaining within the forum, made up of employers, unions and Department of Health representatives.

Unison senior national officer Mike Jackson said: “The staff passport ensures that staff are aware of their rights on and following transfer. Knowledge is the key to ensuring those rights are embedded by commissioners and respected by future employers.”

The most contentious issues debated by the forum concerned whether staff transferred out of the NHS should continue to receive NHS pensions. Staff in NHS organisations that become social enterprises are able to keep their pensions, unlike those joining social enterprises or moving to work in the independent sector.

Mr Jackson told Nursing Times: “I think there could be some movement on that. There are still active talks going on to try to secure that agreement from the government that anybody transferred out of the NHS will be able to retain their pension.”

The passport was published during the annual NHS Employers conference, the day before shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley made a speech supporting social enterprises.

Mr Lansley criticised Labour’s policy – outlined in recent weeks – of treating the NHS as the “preferred provider”. He said he wanted an “any willing provider policy, within NHS quality standards, and within NHS prices”.

He said the foundation trust model needed to be simplified to allow PCT provider arms to take advantage of it as well as large acute trusts.

Alternatively, they could consult staff over becoming social enterprises, similar to John Lewis, in which employees are treated as “partners”, he said.

Probably the best strike in the world: beer manufacturers in Denmark have gone on strike because their bosses have changed a rule that allowed them to drink as much beer as they liked throughout the working day. Under new regulations workers are now only allowed to drink at lunchtime.

Have your say

Please remember that the submission of any material is governed by our Terms and Conditions and by submitting material you confirm your agreement to these Terms and Conditions. Links may be included in your comments but HTML is not permitted.

Unlimited access to Nursing Times...

...gives you the confidence to be the best nurse you can be. Our online learning units, clinical practice articles, news and opinion stories, helps you increase your skills and knowledge and improves your practice.